Aquatic economics

Published: Sunday, July 28, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

The Panama City Beach City Council made a difficult, unpopular but necessary decision Thursday to increase fees at the Frank Brown Park Aquatic Center.

The pool has been losing money since it opened in 2006. Although it originally was projected to be a break-even project, relying mostly on admissions and memberships to cover expenditures, the city has been spending an average of $500,000 a year to cover shortfalls in revenue. That number has to come down.

In October, the council attempted to reduce expenses by cutting the Aquatic Center’s hours of operation. But that proved to be insufficient to stop the bleeding. So on Thursday the council voted 4-1 (Josie Strange was the lone dissenter) to increase annual family memberships from $270 to $350 starting next year. Individual passes will increase from $135 to $225. For students and military personnel, individual passes will increase from $75 to $150. The price of 20-visit punch cards for seasonal swimmers will rise from $65 to $85.

There’s no denying that those are steep hikes that will be painful to many, and prohibitive to some.

Aquatic Center director Will Spivey told the council that customer feedback suggests a majority of members are willing to pay more for annual memberships. Nevertheless, for many others the increased costs will force them to eschew memberships and cut back on their number of visits.

That’s unfortunate, not only because the facility is impressive, but because there is a dearth of public pools in the area. For some folks, if Frank Brown Park becomes too expensive, that will mean no swimming in the summer when kids are out of school.

Panama City Beach taxpayers, though, cannot and should not subsidize swimming for everyone in Bay County. Nor should they continue to pay for the overly optimistic projections that helped fuel the pool’s development.

The Panama City Beach City Council made a difficult, unpopular but necessary decision Thursday to increase fees at the Frank Brown Park Aquatic Center.

The pool has been losing money since it opened in 2006. Although it originally was projected to be a break-even project, relying mostly on admissions and memberships to cover expenditures, the city has been spending an average of $500,000 a year to cover shortfalls in revenue. That number has to come down.

In October, the council attempted to reduce expenses by cutting the Aquatic Center’s hours of operation. But that proved to be insufficient to stop the bleeding. So on Thursday the council voted 4-1 (Josie Strange was the lone dissenter) to increase annual family memberships from $270 to $350 starting next year. Individual passes will increase from $135 to $225. For students and military personnel, individual passes will increase from $75 to $150. The price of 20-visit punch cards for seasonal swimmers will rise from $65 to $85.

There’s no denying that those are steep hikes that will be painful to many, and prohibitive to some.

Aquatic Center director Will Spivey told the council that customer feedback suggests a majority of members are willing to pay more for annual memberships. Nevertheless, for many others the increased costs will force them to eschew memberships and cut back on their number of visits.

That’s unfortunate, not only because the facility is impressive, but because there is a dearth of public pools in the area. For some folks, if Frank Brown Park becomes too expensive, that will mean no swimming in the summer when kids are out of school.

Panama City Beach taxpayers, though, cannot and should not subsidize swimming for everyone in Bay County. Nor should they continue to pay for the overly optimistic projections that helped fuel the pool’s development.

Opponents of the council’s action often point out that the ball fields at Frank Brown Park lose even more money than the pool does, yet the city continues to subsidize them. Here’s the cold, hard truth about that: The ball fields contribute to the beach economy more than the Aquatic Center does.

As an example, consider the Grand Slam Sports’ World Series of Baseball. As reported in June by The News Herald’s Scott Carroll, the week-long youth baseball tournament attracted 141 teams from 20 states (one week, the park hosted players age 9-14, and the next week kids ages 15-18 came to town). As many as 60 people per team — players, coaches and family members — made the trip. Tournament attendees spent an estimated combined 25,000 nights in area hotels, and they eat at local restaurants and shop at local businesses.

The Bay County Tourist Development Council estimated the tournaments generate at least $7 million of local revenue per year. That doesn’t count all the other baseball and softball tournaments that draw teams from around the Southeast and beyond. And the TDC says it needs even more fields and facilities to accommodate the demand and to stay competitive with other cities, especially in attracting other sports.

The success of the ball fields in drawing visitors generates tax revenues that benefit residents.

The swimming community can’t compete with that economic impact, at least not yet. The Aquatic Center has boosted its marketing efforts, as it should, but so far those have proved ineffective at growing revenues. Indeed, The News Herald’s Valerie Garman reported last week that council members said pool marketing officials suggested the rate increase.

The pool subsidy isn’t being eliminated, and the facility being forced to make a profit or die. Rather, the city is asking those who use the pool to assume more of the burden of funding it, so the subsidy can be reduced. The City Council did the right thing.